Together, we can move mountains!

I've been meaning to blog about our little day trip up to Pinecrest, but haven't found the time. What? With three kids you mean I didn't have free time to doodle around on my blog?

My mother and I took the kids up to the mountains to experience the beauty and wonder of SNOW! The trip was destined to be interesting with my brood, but I wasn't expecting half of what we ran into.

The night before we left, I checked to see what the weather would be like up near Strawberry, and the forecast was great! Sunny and warm! We had stocked up on snow gear from places like "Once Upon a Child" and "Good Will" and were raring and daring to go!! The girls had been excited for weeks about this trip, and so was I, however, for some reason, I had a bad feeling the night before the trip and just didn't sleep well. I slept terribly that night and was dragging the next morning.

I got the kids together and headed over to Gramma's where we loaded the van and got ready to go! My mom drove so I could sit in the very back of the van and take care of the kiddos. We filled up the tank and headed to the mountains.

The trip was pretty uneventful, listening to toddler tunes all the way there, the kids were ACTUALLY behaving, and the scenery, of course, was breathtaking. I was surprised that Maggie was so appreciative of the beauty of nature. She kept saying "Whoa, look at that HUGE tree! It's SO beautiful!". Gosh, I love her.

Alex slept most of the time, but he did make faces like this before passing out:



We arrived in a small town in the Mountains after a long stretch of nothingness. I suggested a pit stop to nurse the baby and have the girls stretch their legs. We pulled into a little gas station and I nursed Alex while my mom took the girls inside. The air was crisp and clear, a perfect day! We took off after about 20 minutes and oddly enough, my car alarm starts going off, then stopping, then on again. Not knowing what was going on, my mom pulled off on a little road and walked the perimeter of the van, looking for SOMETHING that might explain the possessed alarm. She was about ready to climb back in when she did a double take on the back right tire. Was it flat? Almost. So we went to the gas station across the street (thank goodness we were in town AND that I suggested we stop!) and filled up with air. The attendant informed her of a tire place just back down the street AND they were open. We swung by there, they patched the tire, and $15 and 15 minutes later we were on our way, hardly skipping a beat!

We headed into Dodge Ridge and pulled off in an area to play. I was unaware that they had just received 3 feet of snow the weekend before, so it was NOT very well compacted. After getting all suited up and ready for the snow, we trekked maybe 10-20 feet in 30 minutes. I was carrying my almost 19 pound son and falling into snow upto my thighs. Needless to say, it was NOT easy. Also, Iris was incredibly frightened of the white wonder and did nothing but shriek and cry. We turned around and headed back to the van, where I stripped out of my winter garb and hung out with Alexander and Iris. Maggie and Gram took the sleds and decided to make the best of it.

I'm sad that I didn't get any pictures of Maggie's first time in the snow, but I do have these:





All in all it was a fun trip. We stopped at "A Pie in the Sky Pizza" and had ourselves the cheesiest, greasiest, BEST pizza of all time in Mi-Wuk Village. I must say, though the trip threw us for a loop at one point, it all went smoothly and we were still able to enjoy ourselves. The snow may have been a bust, but the girls got to see a lot of natural beauty and I got a good work out during my snow trek. I want to head to the Sequoia National Park next time, I think Mag would LOVE the redwood forest, and it'd be a little more Iris and baby friendly!